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When New Labour came to power in 1997, there was great enthusiasm within government for tackling deprivation, particularly area concentrations of problems. There were several important reasons. First, the growth of inequality during Margaret Thatcher's years had not been reversed. Second, social housing had become far poorer as a result of targeting access more systematically at the most deprived and vulnerable households. Third, levels of worklessness, benefit dependency, and lone parenthood had all risen steeply and became more concentrated in the poorest areas, particularly in large...

When New Labour came to power in 1997, there was great enthusiasm within government for tackling deprivation, particularly area concentrations of problems. There were several important reasons. First, the growth of inequality during Margaret Thatcher's years had not been reversed. Second, social housing had become far poorer as a result of targeting access more systematically at the most deprived and vulnerable households. Third, levels of worklessness, benefit dependency, and lone parenthood had all risen steeply and became more concentrated in the poorest areas, particularly in large council estates. This chapter considers the government's attempts to regenerate poor neighbourhoods and inner cities, drawing on extensive work carried out by CASE researchers in 12 low-income areas across much of New Labour's period in office.